Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Still Can't Believe This Happened To Me.....Right After Shriners, Part Two

During the first few days of my stay, we visited with lots
of doctors and nurses. With the
exception of the ER doctor, most of the hospital staff was so friendly. It is true what they say about people in the
South. In general, they are hospitable,
super friendly and love to talk as if you’ve been friends with them all their
lives. The nurses were even friendly and kind to this lady from “liberal” Oregon
who was supposedly admitted for an STD J. But when Sunday rolled around, the situation
was not looking good for me. My primary
doctor at the hospital, an OB/GYN, met with Wes and me early that morning. She had been monitoring me now for a few days
and visiting with us pretty regularly.
She sat us down and said, I would like to re-do your tests, with your
permission. My gut feeling tells me this
is not an STD. You are not responding well,
and your vitals are not good. You are
developing pneumonia. Not only this, but
you seem like a very different couple then the couples we normally see with
this “problem”.

This was a pretty bold decision on her part. But of course, we knew the diagnosis was
wrong, so we agreed to have the tests re-taken.
They started testing me on Sunday afternoon. The results came back. Indeed, my appendix WAS the issue. It was leaking infection all over inside my
abdomen. The appendix needed to be
surgically removed as soon as possible.
Wes’s sister had a neighbor who, just a few years earlier, had died from
an infected appendix that had been leaking for days without anyone knowing
it. We were somewhat alarmed, but at the
same time, glad to finally have the right diagnosis.

That evening, I went into surgery. The next thing I remember, I was waking up,
and felt like I couldn’t breathe. People
were hovering right over my face, trying to put a mask on me; it was an oxygen
mask. The mask was covering up my
face. All I knew is I couldn’t breathe
and in my delirium, I thought it was because something was covering my nose and
mouth and blocking my air. So, I did
what anyone normal person would do – I kept pulling the mask off. The anesthesiologist would place it back on…I
would pull it off. I don’t remember
this, but the anesthesiologist told Wes that I got really rough with him. So uncharacteristic of me! Turns out, my pneumonia was pretty severe by
this time, and I was not breathing well at all.
The surgeon and anesthiologist immediately met with Wes, and said I
needed to be brought to ICU. It was a
scary time for him, being told I was not breathing well and not doing as well
as they had hoped. And it was a scary
time for my family and friends at home who were being kept apprised of the
situation through texts and Facebook.

I did stabilize however, over the next 24 hours. The surgery recovery would have been fairly straight-forward,
but the pneumonia had really taken hold.
I was required to spend 5 more days in the hospital, receiving breathing
treatments every few hours, close supervision, and antibiotics. I don’t remember a lot during this time,
except coughing and not being able to breathe well. One thing I do remember very vividly
though. Sometime after surgery, I walked
into the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and what I saw was a different person
staring back at me! They had pumped me
so full of fluids, and the fluids had been retained, for the most part. I had gained at least 30 pounds. If I were not so sick, I am sure this would
have been very alarming to me! The staff
assured me that the weight would all come off eventually, and I would look
normal again. Wes did not know whether
to laugh or cry! My normal frame was now
twice as big, at least it seemed that way to us. When I finally was released from the
hospital, none of my regular clothes even remotely fit. I remember Wes taking a dress of mine, and
stretching it out as hard as he could. I
was able to squeeze into it then. And I
had a pair of boots, that I could just barely fit my feet into. My legs were so swollen I could hardly
walk. All this was so ironic, since I
had hardly eaten anything for almost 2 weeks.

We were given permission to fly home a few days after my
release from the hospital. I waddled
through the airport, still so swollen and hardly able to walk. It was humiliating, looking that way and
having to walk through an airport. When
I walked through the door of my house, my kids were there. I know they felt bad, but they couldn’t help
but laugh at my appearance. It was quite
a shock to them! Sure enough though, the
water weight came off and I went back to normal.

I relate this experience to add another layer to all the
experiences we have been through that have taught us great appreciation for
health and life, and family. And for the
prayers of the saints who were lifting me up continually during this time. I am very thankful for the people at home who
were praying. The whole situation could
have turned out differently – in a bad way.
It took me a few more weeks to fully recover from pneumonia. My church family provided meals for my family
and me during this time. And once again,
we came through a trial with a testimony of God’s goodness to us, and of his
rescue from a dangerous, even life-threatening situation. J.

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About Me

This blog has one purpose - to tell the story of God's grace in the life of my family. I titled this blog Pieces of Grace, because each post will contain a piece of a story, and like a puzzle, the pieces eventually will come together to display a beautiful picture of God's amazing grace.